Not enough
by Calleigh's little girl
Summary: After the incident in Texas Hotch gets worried about Elle. The first time no romance intended,but maybe later on...Spoilers up to "Derailed".Please R&R! ElleHotch
1. Doubt

**Discs.: I don't own Criminal Minds nor its characters...**

**A/N: Another new story by me. This time it's only friendship between Hotch and Elle (All my regular readers know that's a first!) - but maybe it's going to become a romance later on...Takes place directly after "Derailed"...

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Not enough**

_1. Doubt_

Elle wasn't happy about the fact that Hotch wanted her to see a doctor. She was okay - but he was the boss so there was no way out...

_At the hospital :_

Hotch was sitting in the waiting area while Elle was examined by a doctor. He felt somehow guilty for what happened. It had been him who allowed her to go to Texas all by herself.

She was certainly a great agent, but she was also still new on the team. He should have sent one of the others with her; or should have went with her himself. But he trusted her ability to do her job on her own...and everyone had been pretty busy, so he had agreed when she suggested to go alone. Now he of course regretted his decision, even if he knew that nothing of the events of this day had been his fault.

Before he was able to continue his train of thought, Elle approached him.

"Hey." Elle smiled at him.

"Hey yourself. What did the doctor say?"

"I'm okay. Everything is fine."

Hotch lifted an eyebrow.

"Really..."

"Okay...Then let's go..."

He got up, and they left the hospital.

_Later that day:_

After all of them had finished their paperwork they decided to get some drinks.

At the bar their mood lightened, and the stress of the day was almost forgotten.

_A few hours later:_

With the passing of time the agents left the bar until only Hotch and Elle were left. Hotch had observed her carefully all evening, noticing that she was unusually quiet.

"Hey Elle, you're okay?"

He looked worried at her. Elle gave him a thoughtful glance and replied,

"It's nothing, really..."

"Come on, Elle. Do you really think that I believe that? I'm a trained profiler, so what is bothering you? Is it about what happened in Texas?"

She kept silent then she asked him,

"You're not going to stop until I answer your question, huh?"

He shook his head no and gave her an expecting glance.

"I feel like it is my fault that it went that far. Hell, I'm working with the BAU - I should have seen this coming..."

She let her head hang.

"Look at me, Elle. Nothing of this is your fault, believe me. Nobody could have known that this would happen..."

She lifted her head, and looked him straight into the eyes. He was shocked by the sorrow he saw in them.

"I just feel like I failed on everything, like Shyer had been right...Maybe it was really a mistake to give the open position to me..."

Her voice broke, her eyes welled up with tears, and she broke eye-contact with Hotch.

"Listen Elle, don't even think like that! You're a great agent, and one hell of a profiler. You deserved the promotion, trust me. It was my decision to give this job to you, and I never regretted doing it."

He smiled at her.

After a moment she smiled back.

"Well, it's quite late so why don't we leave? - I think we had both enough drinks..."

Elle only nodded, they paid their drinks and left.

_Outside the bar:_

While they waited for a cab to arrive, Hotch turned toward Elle and told her,

"You know, in case you ever need someone to talk you can always call— no matter what time it is..."

They shared a smile, and Elle replied after a moment of silence,

"Thank you... for everything..."

In that moment a cab stopped next to them.

"Hey Elle, why don't we share the ride?"

"Are you aware of the fact that we live in totally different directions?"

"Yep. But how are the odds that another cab will get here in the next half hour?"

He looked at her, one eye-brow lifted.

Elle smiled and stated,

"Well, I bet Reid could tell you that."

"Probably, he could..."

They took a seat, and Elle told the cabbie her address.

When they reached their destination, Elle looked at Hotch, smiling, the she paid her part of the ride and got out.

After Elle had entered the building, Hotch told the driver his address.

_At Hotch's place:_

When he opened the front-door he tried to be as quiet as possible. A moment later, Haley came down the stairs.

"Hey." She smiled at him.

"Why are you still up?"

Hotch pulled her in a tight embrace.

"Well, Jack wasn't willing to fall asleep until a few minutes..."

Haley made a little step back, and looked at her husband.

"Are you okay?"

Hotch tried to smile, but knew he failed. They took a seat in the living-room and Haley asked,

"What is it, Aaron?"

"Uh, just a tough case..."

He put an arm around her shoulders, pulled her close, and gave her a soft kiss onto the forehead.

After a moment of silence Haley stated, "Let's get to bed..."

They looked at each other.

"Why don't you already go upstairs? I'll come in a moment..."

"Okay..." She got up and went to the stairs, before going upstairs, she turned once again, and glanced sadly back at her husband. It was hurting her to see how the job was getting to him.

Then she went up to their bedroom.

Hotch sighed. He leaned forward, and rested his head on his hands. In the last time, he had noticed how the stress of his line of work was starting to get more and more to him. And he was still kinda worried about Elle. He decided to keep an eye on her.

A moment later, he got up and went upstairs.

_Tbc

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_**A/N: Hope you liked it...Please take the time and let me know what you think - PLEASE REVIEW!**


	2. Worry

**Discs.: I don't own CM nor its characters!!**

**A/N: Here is another update...Hope you're gonna enjoy.**

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Not enough

_2. Worry_

As Hotch entered the bedroom Haley looked up from the book she was reading.

"I thought you wanted to sleep..."

He went to the adjoining bathroom to change.

When he came back and sat down on the bed right next to her, Haley put the book onto the nightstand and replied finally :

"Well, it would have been pointless if I had tried to sleep while you were sitting in the living-room, lost in your..."

Hotch silenced her with a kiss. When they broke the contact they smiled at each other. A moment later they kissed each other again, their kiss turning more passionate by every passing second.

_A few hours later :_

Hotch wasn't sure about how long he had slept when the ringing of his cell phone woke him up.

"Hotchner." He sat up.

"Hey, uhm, it's me, Elle..."

Hotch heard in her voice that she was crying or had at least cried.

"What's up?" The worry returned.

"Well, I thought about what you offered after we had left the bar..."

"Okay."

"I could really use someone to talk to at the moment."

"I'm on my way."

"Listen Hotch, you don't have to come over..."

"Yeah, I know that I don't need to - but I want to. I'm not going to discuss this, alright?"

"Yes..."

They both hung up. Hotch turned toward Haley, who had sat up well.

"What's the matter?"

"I got to go...A work thing..."

He felt bad for lying about where he was going. It wasn't like Haley would be jealous if he told her the truth - she knew that he would never cheat on her, still the thought of telling her that he was going to Elle was making him feel uncomfortable.

He kissed Haley good-bye, got up to get dressed and left.

_At Elle's place :_

When he parked in front of Elle's house he stayed a little longer in his car, then he got out and went to the front-door.

It only took a minute 'til Elle opened the door and let him in.

After closing the door Hotch looked at her - it pained him to see her red, puffy eyes and the traces of tears on her cheeks...

"Do you want some coffee?"

Elle interrupted his train of thought.

"Sure..."

Hotch followed Elle to the kitchen.

As they sat down on the couch in the living-room several minutes later Hotch took a closer look at his surroundings.

Elle had certainly a good taste...

"So, what was it you wanted to talk about with me?"

Elle let her head hang. After a moment Hotch lifted his one hand to her face and said quietly :

"Elle, look at me..."

She turned slowly toward Hotch.

He let the fingers of his left hand slide through her hair then he caressed softly her cheek.

Elle closed her eyes, enjoying the tender contact.

"Tell me what is bothering you..."

She finally looked at him, they locked eyes and Elle replied :

"I don't know, I mean it's not only the case..."

"Listen, you know you can tell me everything, right? I'm not here as your boss - but as a friend..."

"Yeah - and I really appreciate all of it." They shared a smile.

"But it's complicated." Elle added a moment later.

_Some time later :_

Hotch got up to leave, but Elle stopped him with getting a hold of his wrist.

They looked at each other for some time.

"Don't go..." Elle almost begged.

Hotch let his head drop not able to stand the look in Elle's eyes nor the tone in her voice - which made him aware of her pain.

"Elle...I can't stay any longer...I mean, we need to get to the office in only an hour - and you should get some sleep."

A moment later Elle let go of him and Hotch left.

When he sat in his car he took a moment to take some deep breaths. It pained him to leave Elle, though he wasn't sure why. She hadn't told him what was bothering her - she had revealed only little pieces and this fact made his worry rather increase than anything else...

_Tbc_

**A/N: Hope you liked it. You see I'm taking it quite slow on this one - given the fact that I still don't know if it is going to be really just purely friendship or if it will evolve into a romance in the course of the story. However, I'm not sure how long it will take 'til I can update this one again. Though A LOT of REVIEWS might help when it comes down to finding some inspiration...;-D (It always helps me to find out what my readers think - I'm always up for getting some advice or some ideas from you guys!)**


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